Lubrication composition



Patented Sept. 23, 1952 qssicmjon ooMPosfimn Y '2EgbertMasbnfKinD, New Kenfihgmni r- -signor -tdAluminum Company of America,

PittsburghfPa', a corporation of Penn sylvanla imputation nttemb if'iigia as, f I

V p v. 1 it I This invention" relates toji'mproved lubricants, such asfoils, greases or semi fiuidloilsfcontaining as a major lubricatingv 'componenthydrocarbon roll of natural or synthetic originfiIn particular,

' the invention relates tov lubricating compositions of this type havingsimprovedextreme pressure characteristics. f i

" Requirements upon'ilubricants by developments to improve some specific characteristic or property thereof;suchasviscosity; pour point, oillness, flow; anti-wear icharacteristics, film strength; or the like, the effect of the'deflned boron fluoridecontainingbody, when similar, being largely additive. Such diluents or additions maytherefo're,

for'the purposes of thisinvention"be-*regarded in mechanicaldesign'arejriEld-andf dralstici? In many instances pressures: atj'bearingy'suriaces are higher than those which petroleumfoil'sf'will"nor- "m'ally withstandf'f Illustrative are" the conditions encountered in the lubrication of; automotive hyp'oidi gears; heavily loaded "mill pinion" gears,

naval turret gears; and thelil e'.i.' In many ma chines operation is, at least. inip'art, under conditions of thin film lubrication or under similar conditions where illmlstrength,oilinessand antiwear characteristics of, high order are required of the lubricating medium."

The principal obiectiofithis'. invention is' the provision of a new composition of matter consisting of a compounded lubricating product possessing extreme, pressure characteristics of a high order. Further objects include the proviponent'should'be such, however, that the 'ni'ixture.

contains at least 0.001% by weight :ci'fboron fluoride (BFs) while, on the other hand,'i more than 3% does not improve the'lubricant." Withln this range it has been found that'the" best're- .sults are obtainedbyiproviding mm 011 to"1.0

percent of boron fluoride inthe-final'lubricant mixture; .Thechoice of'the'particular body to be employed and its boroniluoride content-will of course depend on suchQmatters as cost, ease'of mixing and'the nature or the lubrication problem The principal advantages and effectiveness of I this new compounded lubricant are'mai'ntained 2::when, in addition to thelabove1mentioned-essenrtial componentstthere are likewise present-Lin the as anon-essential portion f-thecompositionjre- -gardless of their specific beneficiaf or functional effect." The" same mayfbe' s'aidof'substances known as extreme-pressure additives, such as substances composed of: chlorine, sulphur or 'le'ad containing, compounds orj materials, it being observable'" that the". presence of thedefine'd boron ftives are present;

'fiuoride 'contai'ning bodies is efiectivetoiinerease the extremepressure characteristics or the compositions even when other extreme pressure'addi- "The organic "BF: body," which in" accordance "with this invention is blended withithe hydrocarbon component, may be'prepared inv'arious ways but is. for the most part conveniently prepared by'exposing the fat to direct contact with gaseous BFa. This can be easily accomplished under ordinary atmospheric pressure by bubbling the gaseous BF; through'the tat ina, liquid state; f If the fat is not liquid at roomtemperature' it should be heated to and maintained at a temperture slightly above its melting point, saygfi or 10? 0. Although the rate crriow oithe can; not'critical with respect to io'rmationfofthelh additive yet the flow should be c m unicators undue loss; The rate of acceptance ofl-theFBF: by the fat is improved 1: the liquid is. stirredjas the gas is introduced. The amountoi BE: by the fat is indicated by the inoreaseimvve'ight of the'tre'ated massl' ,The introduction bf thelg as "may therefore be continued until a predetermined increase in weight, shortof saturation, has been obtained or the flow of gas may be prolonged-un-- til no further increase in weight is observed at which point the, fat is considered to be saturated with BFa. Generally, it is most convenientfto follow the latter procedure. In bothcases, however, the length'oi time required to reachthe end point can be easily determined for theqfatbeing treated andthus make it possible to introduce the desired amount of BFsrwithoutahaving -to test a charge at intervals during lthexperiodiof treatment. Although each. fat may-have a anferentsaturation point or thedesired'BFa content 'r'may differ for various fats, this does notdetract I L proving the lo ilubricatin'g composition other components seced from thevalue of the BF;-containing body inim- V p v 9 bearing qu ity orahydrocaibon lubricant c ju c r i pounds as NH-iBFi, BFs-Nlh, the heavy metal fluoborates or even other organic materials previously treated with BB: may be employed. To effect decomposition it is usually necessary to heat the mixture of fat and theBFa-containing substance. Further, it maybefdesirable to remove any residues resultingfrom the "decomposition.

The amount of BFs thatcan be introduced into fdehce to indicate that such is its nature, or it may =be a aadmveor' coordinate compound or even 'a solution ordispersion. I prefer, however, to term'theprod ict a body or composition consist- Iiig asmneuyornmmn fat and BF: and, there iorelnot tobha'ra cteriZ'e the state of association of the fluoride and the naturaliat. In any event, Qth'e natural fats act as acceptors of B33 to pro-' due'ea body or's'ubstance having positive advantages as an additive in" lubricating compositions. ,The following list of natural rats isillustrative f jof theclass which when treated withBFa produce ,the bodies "justdescribed; beef tallowjbeemvax,

' "Theintroduction' or the BFaIint o the return ia't may change the color of the "fat, often mak-' "ing 'darker." Also, the liquid fat may become thicker' as the introduction of BFa proceeds and Tithe meltiiig'zpoint ofgthe'end product may be ig hei thanfjthat oi the original fat. .Such angesjdo notafiect the advantages gained from presenee' fj the BFs+containing bodies in. a "h droearbonilubricant, certainly the results of f' the'inventionfdo not depend upon or are responsive gto' any peculiar chemical or physical qualisfoiitlie" BFa containing additive, rather they depend upon the admixture of the additive with the hydrocarbon lubricant. I I

action of theseorganici BF: bodies in a hydrocarbonlubricant is positive and specific to increase the loadbearing capacity of the lubri- *cant' and, in many instances, to' definitely improve its ami wear characteristics. The amount of these 'organic BFa bodies necessarily present to produce these specific effects is very small. -.T.he"aniounts used.. should in any case, asmentionedabove, provide at least 0.001% by weight bot BFs' in the final mixture.-' The amount of any iven BFs-containing'body desirably'present to ;,;,produceioptimum effects inany. particular hydrocarbon lubricant cangbe readily determined by simple -tria1,;the optimum usually being found therange of 0.5 to percent by weight of "the natural tat BF: body. Amounts below about 4 0.01 percent by weight often do not produce sui-- ficient effect to be usually characterized as commercial, but the efiect produced is such as to be useful under exceptional conditions. One may use a relatively small amount of an additive containing a substantial quantity of BFa or a larger amount of the same or :another additive which containsa smaller propbrtion1of =BFs to introduce a given quantity of BF: into the hydrocarbon component. In any event. the organic BF: additive forms a minor amount or proportion of the lubricating composition.

The load bearing qualities of a lubricant may be relatively determined by various methods. The method used to obtain the comparative data hereinafter set forth is practiced on a Falex machine and consists in submitting small quantities of the lubricant to the action of a rotating steel journal rotated in contact with two V-shaped 2() bearing blocks. During testing measurable pressurewas applied to the rotating journal by use }.i'ng b nd the-journal were'subrnerged in the lubricant sample throughout'the tests; QIn each test loadgw'as jappliedjandf allowed. to" reach 500 pounds; at this l'oad'thev journal "was then run for 5 minutesfthereafterthe load was gradually increased until lubrication failure occurred. The

load at the. time :or failure designated as the failure load.,.j Inf fi erah the; failure loads, are f reproducible;withinfl'fidpounds at lower pressure jan'd- 7 pounds at high r pressure ;,the results iaTB TIQtf absolute 'but'j'far comparative with a 'fstar'i'dardjrnnundenthe1 the conditiojns'. In the 'fltests by 'which' theresults'set forth in the following table wereflseou ied the hydrocarbon oilwas 1in jallflcases' the same, heingf a straight mineral oil; allca' ses'lpercentby weight of additive was present "the o il;' "The additive. had been prepared bypassing "B hrdug h thej'i'at until they/eight of the bodybecaine' substantially con- "stant, that is; the fat became saturated with the ifB a as h s seen i so ibed ,he "Each oo nparative te'stf ws run; 'oh"1two I samples; one sample being'th'e' loil, containing l percent by weight of a natural "fat, the ether sample being t c l eo a nin ithe s m We f EE- 0n- :PhitEittl ljQ of the additive is "set forth, in the secondi column' is listed'the BF: content of the "treat- 60 ed material, in the third column'i's 'the BFa coni t i th u ri ant inthe f h m the a failure load in pounds, is" given and; in. the fifth column is shown- -the"percen tage increase in failure load'caused by he presence of the 'BFz-com taming body. f

' I; 'P ereentf Percent Failure Percent- Additivev B13111 ---B in Load inage Additive Lubricant Bounds, Increase I '270 3 ,Palm Oil s 800 "Palm Oil+BFL Cottonseed 0iI I :CeiiwseeQiH-B flhemachineon which the tests'were run had capacityor 54.500 pounds. .Where this capacity ;.Wfll8PDl'QXill1flt8d-Or. exceeded; the iailure' load is indicated above as being greater than 4000 pounds. These tabulated results are indicative of the improvement obtained by the practice of this invention. In general, torque and temperature values obtained during these tests indicated that the organic BF3 body improved friction qualities and observations simultaneously made indicated increases in anti-wear characteristics.

In compounding lubricant compositions of the type herein described and claimed the organic BFa additive may merely be mixed with the hydrocarbon lubricants, the properties of which are to be improved. Where the additive is insoluble in the lubricant or it is desired to incorporate therein amounts in excess of solubility. emulsions or dispersions may be prepared according to known principles.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Serial No. 714,907, filed December 7, 1946, now abandoned, and entitled Lubrication Composition.

Having thus described my invention and the known advantages thereof. I claim:

1. A lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of a hydrocarbon lubricating oil blended with a minor proportion of a body consisting essentially of a natural substance selected from the group consisting of animal and vegetable oils and fats and BFs, said body being prepared by exposing said natural substance to direct contact with a compound selected from the class consisting of gaseous BF: and decomposable compounds yielding gaseous BE; and being present in such amount that the lubricating composition contains from 0.001 to 3 per cent by weight of BFa, said lubricating composition possessing extreme pressure characteristics superior to those exhibited by a similar composition in which the minor proportion aforesaid consists of said natural substance.

2. A lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of a hydrocarbon lubricating oil blended with a minor proportion of a body consisting of lard oil and BFa, said body being prepared by exposing the lard oil to direct contact with a substance selected from the class consisting of gaseous BF: and decomposable compounds yielding gaseous BF: and being present in such amount that the lubricating composition contains from 0.001 to 3 per cent by weight of BFs, said lubricating composition possessing extreme pressure characteristics superior to those 6 exhibited by a similar composition in which the minor proportion aforesaid consists of lard oil.

3. A lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of a hydrocarbon lubricating oil blended with a minor proportion of a body consisting essentially of tallow and BF:;, said body being prepared by'exposing the tallow to direct contact with a substance selected from the class consisting of gaseous BFz and decomposable compounds yielding gaseous BFa and being present in such amount that the lubricating composition contains from 0.001 to 3 per cent by weight of BFs, said lubricating composition possessing extreme pressure characteristics superior to those exhibited by a similar composition in which the minor proportion aforesaid consists of tallow.

4. A lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of a hydrocarbon lubricating oil blended with a minor proportion of a body consisting essentially of cottonseed oil and BFs, said body being prepared by exposing the cottonseed oil to direct contact with a substance selected from the class consisting of gaseous BFa and decomposable compounds yielding gaseous BFs and being present in such amount that the lubricating composition contains from 0.001 to 3 per cent by weight of BFs, said lubricating composition possessing extreme pressure characteristics superior to those exhibited by a similar composition in which the minor proportion aforesaid consists of cottonseed oil.

EGBERT MASON KIPP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: l

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number OTHER REFERENCES Boron Trifluoride and Its Derivatives," Booth 7 et al., John Wiley and Sons. 1949, pp. 72-74. 

1. A LUBRICATING COMPOSITION COMPRISING A MAJOR PROPORTION OF A HYDROCARBON LUBRICATING OIL BLENDED WITH A MINOR PROPORTION OF A BODY CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A NATURAL SUBSTANCE SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE OILS AND FATS AND BF3, SAID BODY BEING PREPARED BY EXPOSING SAID NATURAL SUBSTANCE TO DIRECT CONTACT WITH A COMPOUND SELECTRED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF GASEOUS BF3 AND BEING COMPOUNDS YIELDING GASEOUS BF3 AND BEING PRESENT IN SUCH AMOUNT THAT THE LUBRICATING COMPOSITION CONTAINS FROM 0.001 TO 3 PER CENT WEIGHT OF BF3, SAID LUBRICATING COMPOSITION POSSESSING EXTREME PRESSURE CHARACTERISTICS SUPERIOR TO THOSE EXHIBITED BY A SIMILAR COMPOSITION IN WHICH THE MINOR PROPORTION AFORESAID CONSISTS OF SAID NATURAL SUBSTANCE. 